The Effects of a First Year Engineering Class Using the SCALE-Up Method on Student Retention and Subsequent Student Pass Rates

Due to the increased demand for engineers, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) created a new, first year engineering class using the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-Up) method to specifically address engineering student retention by encouraging student persistence and success throughout their academic career. Since UTA enjoys a very diverse student population with varying learning styles, socio-economic backgrounds, and prior knowledge and preparation, the SCALE-Up method was chosen due to its reliance on problem-based, active learning strategies, peer instruction through teamwork, and peer leaders within the classroom. After two and a half years of implementation of this class, known as ENGR 1300 – Engineering Problem Solving, this paper will explore the first year and second year engineering retention rates. This comparison will show that engineering retention rates have increased since ENGR 1300 was implemented. Further, this paper will show this increase occurs across multiple student type groups, provided that the student take ENGR 1300 in their first semester. Finally, to assess the positive effects of the new class, this paper will show that the pass rates of three subsequent mechanical engineering classes, Statics, Dynamics, and Strength of Materials, increased after ENGR 1300 was implemented.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Getting the Right Stuff with the Write Stuff: Instructional Methods to Improve Writing in a First Year Engineering Course

Engineering Problem Solving (ENGR 1300) is a first year engineering course at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) designed to prepare students for the rigors of the engineering majors by introducing them to engineering skills such as problem solving, programming, and professional writing. This embedded writing element, taught by members of the UTA English Department, differentiates this first-year course from many others. Heeding the concern of faculty members regarding the students’ ability to write professionally, the curriculum committee for ENGR 1300 collaborated with the English Department to create an initial curriculum that tasked students with basic writing tasks such as professional emails, resumes, reports, and simple process papers. While these assignments seemed to answer some of the overall concerns of faculty, the wide range of reading and writing abilities we see among our students caused many to be frustrated because they could not complete these tasks, while others expressed resentment at having to replicate tasks they had mastered in high school. Writing instructors, too, noted their limited effectiveness when attempting to give meaningful feedback to large enrollment sections of students. To address these issues, the writing curriculum was revised to include the rhetorical précis assignments that build upon each other. These rhetorical précis assignments require students to assimilate large amounts of technical information and summarize it into a few, complex sentences. Using these assignments for our writing instruction not only allows writing faculty to give specific feedback even in large enrollment sections, but also challenges advanced writers, offers sentence level writing practice to less-prepared writers, requires critical thinking, and encourages complex synthesis of ideas. This paper will explore the effectiveness of this method for all writing levels and will attempt to identify and compare correlations between the students’ writing and overall grades in the course using these two methods.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Brief announcement: passive and active attacks on audience response systems using software defined radios

Audience response systems, also known as clickers, are used at many academic institutions to offer active learning environments. Since these systems are used to administer graded assignments, and sometimes even exams, it is crucial to assess their security. Our work seeks to exploit and document potential vulnerabilities of clickers. For this purpose, we use software defined radios to perform jamming, sniffing and spoofing attacks on an audience response system in production, which provide different possible methods of cheating. The results of our study demonstrate that clickers are easily exploitable. We build a prototype and show that it is practically possible to covertly steal or forge answers of a peer or even an entire classroom, with high levels of confidence. Additionally, we find that the receivers software of the system lacks protection against unexpected answers, which allows our spoofer to submit any ASCII character and opens the receiver up to possible fuzzing attacks. As a result of this study, we discourage using clickers for high-stake assessments, unless they provide proper security protection..http://people.bu.edu/staro/SSS2017_Brief_v0.pdfhttp://people.bu.edu/staro/SSS2017_Brief_v0.pdfhttp://people.bu.edu/staro/SSS2017_Brief_v0.pdfAccepted manuscrip

ADOPT: a tool for predicting adoption of agricultural innovations

A wealth of evidence exists about the adoption of new practices and technologies in agriculture but there does not appear to have been any attempt to simplify this vast body of research knowledge into a model to make quantitative predictions across a broad range of contexts. This is despite increasing demand from research, development and extension agencies for estimates of likely extent of adoption and the likely timeframes for project impacts. This paper reports on the reasoning underpinning the development of ADOPT (Adoption and Diffusion Outcome Prediction Tool). The tool has been designed to: 1) predict an innovation‘s likely peak extent of adoption and likely time for reaching that peak; 2) encourage users to consider the influence of a structured set of factors affecting adoption; and 3) engage R, D & E managers and practitioners by making adoptability knowledge and considerations more transparent and understandable. The tool is structured around four aspects of adoption: 1) characteristics of the innovation, 2) characteristics of the population, 3) actual advantage of using the innovation, and 4) learning of the actual advantage of the innovation. The conceptual framework used for developing ADOPT is described.Adoption, Diffusion, Prediction, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

A parallel multistate framework for atomistic non-equilibrium reaction dynamics of solutes in strongly interacting organic solvents

We describe a parallel linear-scaling computational framework developed to implement arbitrarily large multi-state empirical valence bond (MS-EVB) calculations within CHARMM. Forces are obtained using the Hellman-Feynmann relationship, giving continuous gradients, and excellent energy conservation. Utilizing multi-dimensional Gaussian coupling elements fit to CCSD(T)-F12 electronic structure theory, we built a 64-state MS-EVB model designed to study the F + CD3CN -> DF + CD2CN reaction in CD3CN solvent. This approach allows us to build a reactive potential energy surface (PES) whose balanced accuracy and efficiency considerably surpass what we could achieve otherwise. We use our PES to run MD simulations, and examine a range of transient observables which follow in the wake of reaction, including transient spectra of the DF vibrational band, time dependent profiles of vibrationally excited DF in CD3CN solvent, and relaxation rates for energy flow from DF into the solvent, all of which agree well with experimental observations. Immediately following deuterium abstraction, the nascent DF is in a non-equilibrium regime in two different respects: (1) it is highly excited, with ~23 kcal mol-1 localized in the stretch; and (2) not yet Hydrogen bonded to the CD3CN solvent, its microsolvation environment is intermediate between the non-interacting gas-phase limit and the solution-phase equilibrium limit. Vibrational relaxation of the nascent DF results in a spectral blue shift, while relaxation of its microsolvation environment results in a red shift. These two competing effects result in a post-reaction relaxation profile distinct from that observed when DF vibration excitation occurs within an equilibrium microsolvation environment. The parallel software framework presented in this paper should be more broadly applicable to a range of complex reactive systems.Comment: 58 pages and 29 Figure

Numerical Modeling of Ablation Heat Transfer

A unique numerical method has been developed for solving one-dimensional ablation heat transfer problems. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the method, along with detailed derivations of the governing equations. This methodology supports solutions for traditional ablation modeling including such effects as heat transfer, material decomposition, pyrolysis gas permeation and heat exchange, and thermochemical surface erosion. The numerical scheme utilizes a control-volume approach with a variable grid to account for surface movement. This method directly supports implementation of nontraditional models such as material swelling and mechanical erosion, extending capabilities for modeling complex ablation phenomena. Verifications of the numerical implementation are provided using analytical solutions, code comparisons, and the method of manufactured solutions. These verifications are used to demonstrate solution accuracy and proper error convergence rates. A simple demonstration of a mechanical erosion (spallation) model is also provided to illustrate the unique capabilities of the method

Interatomic distances and atomic valences in NaZn_(13)

The crystal structure of NaZn_(13) and of several homologous compounds AB_(13) was reported by Ketelaar and by Zintl & Hauke to be based on space group O_h^6-Fm3c, with 8 :Na in 8(a): ¼, ¼:, ¼; ... ; 8 Zn_I in 8(b): 0, 0, 0; .... ; and 96 Zn_(II) in 96(i): 0, y, z; ... . Approximate values were reported for the parameters a_0, y, and z; for NaZn_(13) Zintl & Hauke reported 12.27 Å, 0.178, and 0.122 for these three parameters. Each Zn_I is surrounded by twelve Zn_(II) at the vertices of a nearly regular icosahedron, and each Na by twenty-four Zn_(II) at the vertices of a snub cube. Our interest in the structure was largely concerned with the valences of the two different kinds of Zn atoms, it being presumptive that Zn_I has a larger valence than Zn_(II) because its icosahedral coordination requires it to be smaller than Zn_(II). Lines on new powder photographs of NaZn_(13) were measured and the intensities were estimated visually with as much precision as possible. Least-squares treatments were employed in order to obtain the best possible values for the three parameters; the values obtained are a_0 = 12.2836 ± 0.0003Å, y = 0.1806 ± 0.0003, and z = 0.1192 ± 0.0003. The uncertainties given are calculated standard deviations. Analysis of the interatomic distances yields a selfconsistent interpretation in which Zn_I is assumed to be quinquevalent and Zn_(II) quadrivalent, while Na may have a valence of unity or one as high as 1¼, the excess over unity being suggested by the interatomic distances and being, if real, presumably a consequence of electron transfer. A valence electron number of approximately 432 per unit cell is obtained, which is in good agreement with the value 428.48 predicted on the basis of a filled Brillouin polyhedron defined by the forms {444}, {640}, and {800}